On December 15, 1840, a coffin with the body of Napoleon Bonaparte arrived in France. After Napoleon's death in 1821, his body was buried on the island of St. Helena, under the treetops in an unmarked grave, because the placement of his name was opposed by the island's governor, Sir Hudson Lowe. Napoleon rested dressed in the uniform of an artillery general, with the Legion of Honor and the Order of the Iron Crown on his chest, laid to rest in four coffins: a metal one, which was placed in a mahogany one; this one was placed in a lead one, which was also soldered and placed in yet another mahogany coffin. Napoleon's preserved heart was also put into a coffin with the body.Thanks to the efforts of Napoleon III, Napoleon I's nephew, who wanted to gain in popularity, and good personal relations with the British court, it was possible to obtain permission to place Napoleon's body on the banks of the Seine, in accordance with his wishes. In 1840, the ship Belle-Poule arrived on the shores of St. Helena and took the body to France. 21 years later, in 1861, it was placed in six coffins: a tin one, a mahogany one, two lead ones, an ivory one and, once again, a mahogany one. After a solemn procession through the streets of Paris, attended by numerous veterans of the Napoleonic wars, the coffin was deposited in Les Invalides in a sarcophagus made of quartzite from Finland. (Source: Historykon.pl)
